On June 23rd and 24th, the European Union Centre in Taiwan held the 2011 Taiwan-EU Forum on Climate Change and Sustainable Development at National Sun Yat-sen University. Deputy CEO Dr. Chern Jenn-Chuan of the Executive Yuan’s Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council was invited to share his understanding of reconstruction efforts after Typhoon Morakot and to hold exchanges with domestic and foreign experts and scholars on the results and experiences of these reconstruction efforts. During his speech, Deputy CEO Dr. Chern emphasized that post-disaster reconstruction efforts for Typhoon Morakot were a joint effort between government and private organizations, without political or ethnic affiliation. The efforts fully demonstrated Taiwanese love and compassion, and serve as a concrete example of international post-disaster reconstruction efforts.

NSYSU’s European Union Centre in Taiwan held the Taiwan-EU Forum on Climate Change and Sustainable Development to heighten Taiwan’s knowledge and R&D potential on the topics of “climate change” and “sustainable development” so that environmental education of related topics may be implemented to facilitate academic exchanges between Taiwan and the European Union on research about “climate change” and “sustainable development”. Experts and academics from the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, other EU nations, and Taiwan were invited to gather for the seminar and forum conference. Yang Hung-Duen, President of NSYSU, was the host of the opening ceremony, and honored guests such as Deputy CEO Dr. Chern Jenn-Chuan of the Reconstruction Council and the Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung City, Liu Shih-fang, were invited to address the participants. Deputy CEO Dr. Chern also gave a keynote speech on his experience with Morakot reconstruction efforts, prompting resonance and recognition from the scholars present.

Deputy CEO Dr. Chern pointed out that, according to statistics from the United Nations, a total of 373 major natural disasters took place in 2010, resulting in nearly 300,000 deaths and more than a hundred billion US dollars in economic damageloss. 89% of the people affected were Asian. As Taiwan is listed as a region at high risk for natural disasters in a 2005 World Bank research report, climate change and sustainable development are major topics that Taiwan faces today.

During his speech, Deputy CEO Dr. Chern went further on to point out that while Taiwan underwent the disasters that Typhoon Morakot brought, with the century’s largest floods, torrential rains, landslides, and mudslides, the government was able to establish clear policies and proactive actions immediately. Examples of these include implementing a government/NGO cooperation model to construct permanent housing in the most efficient manner as donations from the public poured in. At the same time, resources from private corporations were utilized to assist specialty local industries in making transformations and stimulating revival of local industries. This has established a fine example of government and private cooperation in reconstruction efforts.

Lastly, Dr. Chern stressed that the keys to successful reconstruction efforts were the government’s simplification of construction management procedures, provision of land and public infrastructure, and permanent housing that could be inherited but not sold or rented, which NGOs constructed for the disaster victims on state-owned land. These points may also serve as an important reference model when other countries need to resettle disaster victims in the future. The conclusion of this speech was met with thunderous applause.
 

行政院重建會陳副執行應邀分享重建經驗

台歐氣候變遷及永續發展論壇邀請歐洲各國專家參與分享經驗

歐洲多國專家學者參與2011 台歐氣候變遷及永續發展論壇